Luis Enrique’s team has four days left to play with the obligation to win
the Spanish selection does not depend on itself to get a direct place in the World Cup 2022, After starting the qualifying phase with a draw in front Greece and fall into Sweden, And at the cost of winning even if the Nordic team does not, it is doomed to a new replay format with two qualifiers in one game.
Between the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and the Friends Arena in Solna, 28 years and 66 World Cup qualifiers passed without Spain suffering a defeat. A record streak from 1-0 against Denmark in 1993 with Javier Clemente at the helm, to Sweden’s 2-1 at present, leaving the team led in a borderline situation.
The illusion unleashed on the Euro 2020, In which it reached semifinals and it only yielded before the champion Italy in the turn of penitentiaries, collapses. The Spanish team left the big event without losing, but signing only two victories, and one in overtime in the eighth against Croatia, For four draws.
The return to a dangerous date, as he had warned Luis Enrique due to the lack of rhythm after the holidays, and without four players who competed in the Olympic Games -Pedri, Pau Torres, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal-, he left a defeat that added to the tie in Granada against Greece, causes that Spain ceded the lead to Sweden, two points behind and with a more contested match. Of four days it won in two, with suffering in the last moment in Georgia (1-2) and Kosovo (3-1).
A Spain he has four days left to play with the obligation to win. He faces Badajoz in Georgia on Sunday and visits Kosovo next Wednesday, on a key day in which Sweden will face Greece in Hellenic soil.
In the October window La Roja rests and November will be the month in which Group B is decided visiting Greece and receiving Sweden, with the hopes of playing the lead on the last day. In the event of finishing second, they will face a second leg that could also be played in the third group because they have qualified for the final phase of the League of Nations.
According to the new classification format, the top ten in the group are classified directly in the final phase of the World Cup. The “second leg” will be played from March 24 to 29, 2022, with the top ten ranked, plus the top two in the overall standings of the League of Nations who have not finished in the top two of their key.
Three “play-off” routes will be drawn, each with a semifinal and final. The teams that have scored the most points in their group will play the semifinals in their field.
The winners of these semifinals will still have to play another match with a venue to be determined by drawing lots. The three winners of the finals are classified in Qatar 2022.